A muffin company wants to make more money.
It’s hard to increase their current customers weekly muffin intake – so they need add some new ones.
To flip muffin fans who aren’t choosing theirs, they need to tell them about their company or muffins that will get them to try one.
And tell them in a way that gets their attention.
But the first thing they need to do is choose who to speak to.
An ad agency?
A design company?
Branding agency?
Packing firm?
Social media experts?
Behavioural scientists?
Media agency?
I could go on.
And on.
Is it helpful to muffin companies out there to slice ‘communication’ into so many tiny specialisms?
Some ad agencies dabble in design, some designer companies do the odd ad.
But why is it so segmented?
Essentially, we’re all working with words and pictures to create personalities.
Michael Johnson has always straddled that line, the last 30 years running Johnson Banks.
And straddled it well, picking up every creative award going, for design and advertising.
We had a great chat, hope you enjoy it.
WOLFF OLINS.
AUSTRALIA & JAPAN.
SEDLEY PLACE.
SMITH & MILTON.
James McNaughton Paper.
The Watch Gallery.
National Westminster Bank.
JOHNSON BANKS.
D&AD.
The British Council.
V&A.
Shelter.
Connex.
Canna Kendall & Co.
The Royal Mail.
The Design Council.
More Than.
Merrydown.
(The Monday morning rough.)
(The Tuesday morning final.)
Campbell Doyle Dye.
Eighteen months in, I asked Michael to design a brochure for us.
He took his inspiration from our Merrydown campaign – creating a book that worked both ways up.
One cover was faded and battered, it then showed half a books worth of our old work.
The cover on the other side, upside down, represented the first eighteen months of CDD’s work, it was pristine.
In the middle, like a hinge, was our Merrydown campaign – which worked both ways up.
The Victoria & Albert Museum.
University of Cambridge.
Glenfiddich Whisky.
Science Museum.
Brighton Dome.
The Imperial War Museum.
Monotype.
Duolingo.
Jodrell Bank.
Action For Children.
The United Nations.
MORE MICHAEL…
Talks.
Books.
Photography.
The André Kertész photo Michael mentions.
Michael’s photos.
Dave, The work is prolific and iconic. This is just the further reminder and exposure it needs and hopefully, will land as inspiration for future work and generations. There is so much sh!te out there today, masquerading as brilliant work.
Regards, Mark
My goodness, there’s a lot of brilliant stuff here
Great episode – thanks Dave. I’ve been a long time fan of Michael’s and his intersection of the worlds of design and advertising. The Beatles stamps, Dear World, Yours Cambridge and especially the Glenfiddich barrel art are some of my all time faves.
Mr. Dye, I’m Fiona Kelleghan in Miami, Florida. I’m very interested in any information on copywriter Tony Kenrick. My question is not about this Michael Johnson thread, but rather with an article you posted in 2019: “Hands Up Who’s Heard Of Geoffrey Seymour?” in which you mentioned his ad campaign for Birds Eye in the 1980s. I’m creating a Wikipedia page about Kenrick, and comments on his career, other than book reviews, are thin on the ground. Would you be willing to tell me more about him, please? Anything you know, really.
Hey Fiona,
I don’t know Tony Kenrick.
I might be able to hook you up with someone who dopes or did.
What can you tell me?
Was he at CDP?
Best,
Dx
Thank you for responding!
Tony Kenrick was born on August 23, 1935 in Sydney, Australia. He is an author of thriller fiction and caper comedies.
— My Wikipedia draft is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Tony_Kenrick
Kenrick worked in the field of advertising before also turning his hand to writing fiction. After some years working in Australia, he was hired at the New York firm of Kenyon & Eckhardt as a copywriter in 1967.
One of his accounts was the 1980s ad campaign for Birds Eye frozen foods. With colleague Vernon Howe, he wrote the TV commercial slogans “It can make a dishonest woman of you” for their Chicken Pies, and “When you’ve got to make it something fast” for their Beef Burgers.
I got the info about the Birds Eye ads from your 2019 Geoffrey Seymour article. I don’t even know whether I’ve phrased it correctly: Should I say “One of his clients was Birds Eye”? I don’t know how long he was at Kenyon & Eckhardt or where else he might have worked. Nor for how long he continued copywriting, nor if he’s still alive. His works were so popular that I expect he’ll have a cool obit, maybe in the NY Times, but nothing so far.
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I’ll be excited to hear if you have anything to offer me. You rock!
Fiona